The Mephisto Covenant (27 page)

Dear Sasha— Tim e-mailed to let me know about Melanie telling you what

I had wanted to share when the time was right. I’m so sorry you found out this way, and from someone who hates me and despised your father. It must have been hard for you, and I want to talk to you about it soon, but right now I have no cell phone, and very little money, so it will be a while before I can call you. Until then, always know how very much I love you, and how very much Mikhael loved you. You aren’t our natural-born daughter, but no one ever loved a child so much. I miss you terribly, and worry constantly, but I know you are safe there, as you wouldn’t be here.

I think I have found a way to bring you to Russia, to be with me until you go to university, but it will take some time. Be patient and do your best in school.

I love you, very much. Mom

Did she really have a way to bring her to Russia, or was she just saying that because she felt bad for leaving her behind? She guessed it didn’t matter. If Mom figured out a way, then she’d go to Russia. If not, she’d stay here with Tim and Chris, and it wouldn’t be so bad. After next week, Melanie and Brett wouldn’t be a problem.

She thought about Jax, not seeing him anymore, actually forgetting about him, and tears popped into her eyes. She couldn’t help it. Every time she thought about it, she cried, as if someone was going to die. Knowing that she’d forget him made it only worse.

Swiping at the tears, she wondered if her mom would be able to find a job, where she was living, if the Russian government was making her life difficult because she had defected. She wanted to ask, but she knew her mother wouldn’t give her real answers.

She stared at the e-mail for a while, debating how to reply. Finally, she wrote,

I wish you had told me a long time ago, but I guess I understand why you didn’t. Knowing I’m not your biological child is hard, but it’s so much weirder to know I’m not even legally yours. It’ll take me a while to get used to it, but I will.

I love you, Sasha

She wanted to work on her college essay, but Jax had forgotten to give her the backup, so instead, she did the rest of her homework, then took a shower and got in bed. Tired and drowsy, she snuggled into the covers, with Boo curled up on her feet, and was almost asleep when she realized Amanda hadn’t called her back.

Sitting up, she reached for her phone and called again. No answer. She told herself it could be all kinds of reasons, like her cell died, or she left it somewhere, or she had it on silent, but she knew in her heart it wasn’t any of those things. Amanda didn’t want to talk to her.

Lying down again, she prayed hard that Amanda wouldn’t join the Ravens, even while she remembered what Jax and Brody told her, that everyone has free will, the ability to make their own choices, even if they’re really, really bad ones.

---

She woke with a start when Boo growled, low in his throat, and she turned over just as her door opened and the overhead light came on. Brett stood there in a pair of navy boxers, with a smug look, his eyes slightly shaded. “You thought you talked her out of joining, didn’t you?”

Oh, no. “Amanda didn’t join. You’re lying.”

He stepped inside the room and closed the door before he headed toward the bed. “Not yet, but she will, and so will others, but only if you back off. I think you need a little lesson so you understand who you’re dealing with.”

Sasha scrambled to get out of bed, standing on the opposite side. “I know exactly who I’m dealing with, but if you think you can threaten me, you’re way wrong.”

“Funny, you don’t look stupid, but since you’re not getting the idea, let me make it real clear how things are gonna be from now on. You’re going to do whatever I tell you, or you’ll be leaving the country within a week.”

The way he was looking her over, she knew he wasn’t just talking about staying out of his way so he could suck people into the Ravens.

If only she couldn’t see him, those shaded eyes and the intent in his expression. She concentrated until the light went out, but she could
still
see him. She almost couldn’t breat
he, she was so scared. Instinct
propelled her toward the door, and she let out a yelp when he grabbed her from behind. He was hauling her back to the bed, his arms hurting her, when fear overcame all else and she went wild, twisting and shoving until he fell back and stumbled. She made for the door again, but he was there first, breathing hard, glaring at her. He turned the light back on.

“You can’t get away with this.”

He advanced on her. “I can get anything I want, and right now, I want you.” As he came at her and she backed away, he went through a list of all he intended to do—and what he expected of her.

She willed the light to turn off again, and the chair to move from the desk into his path. He fell over it and landed on the floor, cursing at her, furious as he got to his feet and kept coming.

When the back of her legs bumped the edge of the bed, he shoved her and she fell back, bouncing on the mattress. Rolling, she fought for a handhold, desperate to get away from him. He fell on her, his weight holding her down, his hands sliding beneath her, squeezing her breasts so hard that she cried out in pain. With the side of her face pressed against the sheets, she saw Boo scramble onto the bed, teeth bared, growling ferociously. He leaped across the space between them, and Brett got off of her, kicking and punching, trying to get Boo away from him. He was bleeding from scratches and bites, yelling at her to call off the dog.

Sasha hustled to get off the bed and was just about to run for the door when Boo went flying across the room and hit the wall next to the closet, whimpering as his body landed on the floor, then went still.

The door flew open, the light switched on, and there was Chris, also in boxers, his dark hair standing on end, his eyes swollen with sleep. “Jesus, Brett, what the hell are you doing?”

Brett was breathing hard, his leg bleeding all over the rug. “Get out, Chris. This is none of your business.”

Chris looked at her. “Was he going to rape you?” Silently, tears falling freely, Sasha nodded. “Brett, you’re a piece of shit.
I didn’t know I could hate your
guts any more than I already do. Go find some of your Satan worshipper buddies, and leave Sasha alone.”

“They’re not Satan worshippers! It’s not like that.” “It doesn’t matter. You’ve sold your soul. You’re evil.” “Come on, are you serious? You’ve been playing Demon

Slayer too much.” “Yeah, and every day, I kill
fake demons, wishing it was the
real thing. Wishing it was you. Now get out, and if you lay a hand on Sasha, I’ll have every cop within a hundred miles on your ass.”

“She’s not really our cousin. She’s an illegal alien.”

“I don’t care if she’s from Mars. You’ve got no right to hurt her.” He advanced on Brett, raising his fists. “I’ll break your face if you don’t get out right now.”

Brett glared at him, then made a promise to Sasha with his eyes. He’d be waiting until Chris wasn’t there, and he’d be back. As soon as he was gone, Chris lowered his fists and said, without looking at her, “Lock your door, then shove that chair beneath the knob because he can pick the lock with a paper clip.

If he comes back, scream your head off.” “Thank you, Chris.” “Yeah, whatever. Don’t ever be home alone, Sasha.” He was about to leave when she asked, “Why do you hate
him? What did he do to you?” Hesitating at the doorway, gaz
ing out into the darkened hall-
way, he said, “He stole a story I wrote and gave it to East, who sent it in to a contest as his own and won a ten-thousand-dollar scholarship. It’ll be published, with his name on it, in a sciencefiction anthology. I worked on that story since I was thirteen. Three years, and I thought it would go a long way to getting me into college if I could get it published. Then East swiped it, and Mom wouldn’t believe it was mine. Said I was just jealous of Brett and his friends.”

“Did you tell Tim?”

He nodded. “But Dad doesn’t always win their fights, and so I was screwed.” He walked out and closed the door before she could say anything else.

Rushing to Boo, she lifted his limp body from the floor and rocked him back and forth, crying. Poor, ugly, sweet dog. He died trying to protect her. She hated Brett so much, wished more than anything that she could take him away and send him to that deep, dark hole in the ground.

Someone knocked and she stiffened, worried it was Brett. “Who’s there?”

Tim said through the door, “What’s going on, Sasha? I heard a commotion.”

How to answer? Oh, hey, I was just fighting off your son who wanted to rape me.

Before she could come up with a response, the door opened and he came into her room, his frown turning to a scowl when he saw Boo. “Who gave you permission to bring a dog into my house?”

Staring at his eyes in stunned disbelief and horror, Sasha backed away.

Tim had pledged his soul to Eryx.

---

“Jax, wake up.” Instantly alert, he sat up qui
ckly and saw Ty standing at the
end of his bed. “What’s wrong?” “It’s Boo. The alarm wen
t off, and when I checked, it’s
because his collar went cold. It might mean Sasha took it off, but more likely, he’s dead, and that can’t mean anything good.”

“Shit!” Jax jumped out of bed and ran to his closet, threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, slid into his trench coat, then popped to her room, cloaked because he had no idea what, or who, he’d find. His relief was immediate when he saw Sasha was there, that she hadn’t been taken, but it swiftly turned to pain when he took in the whole situation.

She stood in a corner, clutching Boo’s lifeless body against her chest while her aunt and uncle shouted at her. Her eyes met his, but she didn’t move toward him. She knew he was cloaked, that the others couldn’t see him. But she also knew whatever was going down wasn’t going to be as horrible as she thought, because he was there. The anxiety in her eyes eased.

He looked toward Tim and Melanie and felt the old familiar feeling of defeat when he saw Tim’s eyes. He was surprised, because he hadn’t thought Tim was at risk.

“You don’t deserve this room,” Melanie said. “I can’t believe you brought that mangy thing into our house, and he attacked Brett! Look at the blood on the carpet. If he wasn’t dead already, I’d take him out and shoot him. Maybe I’d miss and shoot you instead.”

“You’ll clean this up,” Tim said, “and apologize to Brett. Then you can pack up your things and move down to the basement.”

“I’ll clean it up and I’ll move, but it’ll snow in Hell before I apologize to Brett. Did you hear what I said? He tried to rape me. If it wasn’t for Boo and Chris, he would have.”

Jax nearly passed out, the rush of blood to his head was so fast. Had he ever been this ma
d? Had he ever wanted to murder
a human this much? “He’s an eighteen-year-old boy
,” Tim said, “and you’re pranc
ing around in front of him all the time. What did you expect?” With hate in her eyes, she said in a dead voice, “I’ll apologize.” They both looked like th
ey were disappointed, like they
wanted to keep berating her, but with her total capitulation, th
ere wasn’t much left to say. On
their way out, Melanie said, “You could make all of this go away if you’d join the Ravens.”

“No way. I’m not a sellout like Tim.”

Tim, moving amazingly fast for a fat man, backhanded Sasha, knocking her to the floor. She tried to roll away, but the nanosecond between when she went down and when she realized Tim was coming at her again was enough time for him to slap her so hard, her lip busted, and blood dripped onto Boo’s fur. Tim was drawing his leg back to kick her when Jax threw a freeze on everyone in the house, picking Sasha up off the floor at almost at the same time. She clung to him, blinking and shaking her head as if to clear it.

“Jax, I remember something,” she whispered. “You did this that night you found me in San Francisco, didn’t you?”

He kissed her lip until it healed, and held her cradled in his arms against his chest for as long as it took to get a grip on his anger. Finally, when he could speak, he said, “Yes. And now we have a big problem.”

“What to do with them when they unfreeze?” “Right. Just stay with me and stay quiet, okay?”

She nodded and tightened her arms around his neck. He popped them to the house, to the war room in the basement, and set her on her feet before he hit the intercom and called his brothers. In less than a minute, they were all there, wearing trench coats over boxers or pajama bottoms. Key gave Jax a hard look. “Talk now.”

“Tim Shriver took the oath. He was assaulting her, and I froze the whole damn house. We’ve got maybe eight minutes before it fades.”

Key looked at Sasha before he took off to pace around the long oval table in the middle of the room, pushing his long hair behind his ears. “We can’t take them all, not yet. It’ll alert Bruno, and the whole plan will be screwed.”

Denys said from the opposite side of the room, “Let’s take Tim and leave the others. He’s huge, so Bruno wouldn’t question if he had a heart attack.”

Ty shook his head. “We don’t have a doppelganger.”

“We can have one by this afternoon,” Zee pointed out. “In the meantime, we could put him in a coma and get M to work on his heart, so the hospital won’t question what happened to him.”

“It’s risky,” Phoenix said. “He could actually go into cardiac arrest and die. That’s a win for Eryx.”

“Don’t see we have a choice,” Zee said, fiddling with his diamond stud. “Sasha can’t stay in that house if he’s going to beat up on her.”

Key looked around at each of them. “Are we agreed?”

They all nodded. He looked at Jax. “Will it work?” “It’ll work, but the son of a bitch tried to rape her.” “Tim?” three of them asked in unison. “Brett.” They all looked at Sasha, who was standing there in n
othing
but a T-shirt and wide eyes. Phoenix asked, “Did he see your birthmark?” “No. Boo attacked him before . . . before anything happened.

Then he killed Boo and Chris came in and threatened to pound him if he didn’t leave. Then Tim came and I saw . . . his eyes, and he was mad about Boo, and about the blood on the carpet, and he shouted for Melanie. I told them why there was blood, why Boo bit Brett, and they called me a slut and said I’d have to live in the basement. Then Jax came and . . .”

She was babbling. Jax hauled her next to him and wrapped her inside his trench coat, looking over her head at his brothers. “I’m taking her to my room. If Chris wasn’t already asleep when I threw the freeze, make sure he’s asleep after the fade.”

“I will,” Ty said.

“When we’re back,” Key said, “we’ll discuss Sasha. What happened tonight cannot happen again. We need something more effective than a dog guarding her.”

As soon as his brothers disappeared, Jax popped her upstairs, picked her up, and laid her on his bed, drawing the covers to her chin. She blinked at him, resisting shock. Her teeth began to chatter. “I’m . . . so . . . cold.” Unbending, he went to the
console against the north wall
and opened the doors, retrieved a bottle of whiskey, and poured half an inch. He took it to the bed and slid an arm around her waist, pulling her to sit. “Drink this.”

“It’ll make me . . . sick.”

“It won’t, I swear.” He watched her take the glass and said, “Small sips.”

She drank a little and made a face. “It’s like Nyquil.”

He resisted smiling at the comparison of his two-hundreddollar reserve scotch whiskey to a four-dollar bottle of cold medicine. “It gets better.”

She kept sipping until it was gone and handed him the glass. “It did get better.”

He set it on the bedside table, and after she was lying down again, he tucked her in. “Try to sleep. I’ll stay right here until you wake up.”

“Jax, I don’t want to go back, but I . . . don’t have anywhere else to go, and I can’t leave Chris there all alone, especially now, when his dad is going to be gone.”

“I know, Sasha. We’ll talk about it when you wake up. Go to sleep now.” He’d force her to sleep if he could, but she was way past his being able to manipulate her in any way.

“Why did he do it, Jax? He hated Melanie, never even looked at Brett, made fun of the Ravens.”

“Everyone wants something, and if they want it bad enough, and if the Skia can figure out what
it is, they’ll cave. Tim wanted
something—I don’t know what—and he believed Bruno when he told him he could have it.”

She was quiet for a while before she asked, “Would you sit here with me for a while?”

He sat and stroked her hair, watching for her lids to get heavy.

They didn’t. She was wide-eyed, staring up at his ceiling. She shivered.

“Are you still cold?” She nodded. “Would you get in with me?” Standing, he shrugged out of the trench coat and tossed it to

a chair, then took off his boots and got into bed with her, still in jeans and a T-shirt. He pulled her next to him, and she laid her head against his shoulder, wrapped an arm around his middle, and was asleep in two seconds. He figured he’d stay awake until his brothers came home, then leave her there asleep while he went down to meet with them and figure out a new plan to keep her safe.

Instead, he drifted off, and when he woke up, he was on his side and she was curled into him like they were spoons in a drawer. He realized he’d woken up because Phoenix was standing next to the bed. “How did it go?” he whispered.

“We put Tim on the floor of his bedroom and set it up so he was comatose, and M worked on his heart. We put Melanie in the room so she’d see him right away. Chris wasn’t asleep, but Ty fixed it so he was after the freeze faded. That’s when shit got crazy.”

“How?”

“Melanie saw Tim passed out on the floor, but she didn’t call an ambulance. She got dressed, then went to see if he was dead yet. He wasn’t, so she went downstairs and made coffee. She had a cup, went back upstairs and checked again. She was pissed off he still wasn’t gone, and cussed him for living. This went on for over an hour, until Key said to hell with it and made Chris have a bad dream so he’d wake up and want to check on his dad. We were there almost two hours before an ambulance came to get Tim.”

“If Eryx knew, he’d take her out.”

Surprising him, because he thought she was still asleep, Sasha asked, “Why? I thought when they die, he takes their soul and it makes him more powerful.”

Phoenix said, “All true, but he wants them to live as long as possible so they can recruit new followers. If a lost soul kills another, it’s automatic death, and Melanie’s not calling an ambulance for Tim is like trying to kill him.”

Jax withdrew his arms from around Sasha, turned over, and sat up, blinking the last of sleep from his eyes. “What day is it?”

“Thursday,” Phoenix said.

Glancing at the clock, Jax said, “School starts in two hours. I’ll take Sasha home for some clothes and her books, then we’ll come back here, get dressed, and meet over breakfast.”

Phoenix said, “I’ll tell Key,” then disappeared.

Sasha rolled to her back and looked at him. “Jax, what am I going to do? Maybe I’m stronger
that before, but last night, he
was . . . I couldn’t get away from him.” The concept of being
overpowered wasn’t something he
could comprehend, but looking into her eyes, he could see how frightened she was. “Did you eat dinner?”

“Just what we had at the coffeehouse.”

He shook his head. “Not enough. You’ve got to eat protein. If you get in a bad situation again, if you’ve eaten what you need, you won’t be as weak or helpless. As for Brett, we’ll think of something, Sasha. He won’t bother you again, I swear it.”

She sat up and slipped her arms around his neck. “I wish I could stay here until they’re all gone, but I can’t leave Chris.”

“I wish we could take them all out, immediately, so you wouldn’t be in harm’s way.”

“I want Bruno gone so he can’t take any more oaths, and I want the others gone so they can’t talk people into pledging, but when I think about what happens after they’re gone . . .”

He sighed. “Is there just no way you’ll change your mind, Sasha?”

Pulling back, she looked into his eyes and didn’t say yes, didn’t say no. “We should get dressed.”

---

No one was at the house when Jax took her to get some clothes; they were probably at the hospital with Tim. She hurriedly stuffed some things in one of the Macy’s bags from their shopping trip, grabbed her laptop and backpack, then he popped them back to his room.

“You can use my shower, and I’ll go next door to use Phoenix’s. If you need something, press the intercom button and ask for Mathilda. But fair warning, she’ll pop in really quickly.”

He left then, and she went to his bathroom, gawking at how huge it was. He had a ginormous bathtub, a separate shower, and a sauna. A sauna!

She walked farther and was in his closet, which was as big as the bathroom. He had a gazillion pairs of black leather boots and scads of shoes. He had at least twenty suits, all black, and dress shirts hanging in a perfect row, separated by color. He had tuxedos and flannel, sweaters and jeans, and a whole section was nothing but leathers. Standing there, looking around at his clothes, where he got dressed every day, she was overcome by his scent, that lovely fragrance of cider and spices, making her think of everything warm and wonderful.

In the middle of the back wall was a long, built-in dresser. She moved closer and noticed a small wooden box. It was rough hewn, almost primitive, but smooth and shiny from years of handling. Unable to quell her curiosity, she picked it up and lifted the lid. Inside was a small scrap of fabric, maybe linen, faded to beige, impossibly thin and worn in one place, as if he’d rubbed that spot over and over, wearing away the fibers. She lifted it out and saw a lock of dark hair beneath. It had to be his mother’s. He’d had this little box for a thousand years, kept it where he’d see it, every day, took out that little bit of fabric and touched it so he wouldn’t forget, so she’d never die in his heart.

Blinking, not wanting to cry again, she put the fabric back, replaced the lid, and carefully set the box back on the dresser.

She went to the shower and couldn’t stop thinking about that little box. She was still thinking about it when she stood in front of the mirror in his bathrobe and blew her hair dry.

He knocked and came in with a towel around his waist. Oh, man, he was amazing to look at. “Sorry. I need to get in my closet.” His gaze swept her from head to toe, not failing to notice the robe was dragging the ground, and he smiled.